Revenue falls slightly at ECO Animal Health Group

AIM-listed ECO Animal Health Group reported a slight reduction in its revenue for the six month period ending September 30th, according to the group's half yearly report.The company, which develops pharmaceutical products for the global animal health markets, stated that its revenue was £11.46m compared to £11.88m for the corresponding period last year. Gross profit rose 14.7% to £5.1m and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, share based payments and foreign exchange movements, amounted to £2.0m. This was less than the £2.3m generated in the same period in 2011, but reflected product launch costs of £0.3m in the US and Canada. Peter Lawrence, Executive Chairman of the group, said: "In the light of the many new opportunities opening up to the group, we are concentrating our management and financial resources on those products and markets with the greatest potential for profitable growth and reducing exposure to those with limited margins and restricted growth potential. Unpredictable timing of orders in Latin America affects sales"The success of this strategy is reflected in overall sales in the period of £11.45m (2011: £11.88m) which were a little lower than last year's level, mainly due to Latin America where the timing of orders, coupled with the availability of foreign currency can be unpredictable but, in the medium term these issues have tended to unwind. Nevertheless, these factors were more than outweighed by the significant improvement in margin and gross profit."He added: "The second half of the year is traditionally a stronger trading period as the incidence of respiratory disease increases and parasite numbers rise during the southern hemisphere spring and it is pleasing to note that our performance in the first two months of the second half has been strong. These traditional factors, coupled with the exciting sales opportunities offered by our entry into new markets for Aivlosin in Canada, the USA and Russia, enable us to look forward with confidence and we expect to deliver another sound full year result for our shareholders."ECO animal Health Group's share price was up 0.20% to 252.50p at 11:54 on Wednesday.MF